Swoops
by Eraasay
Summary: Flying through the airlanes of Coruscant on swoops, a mission almost completed, AU after the Young Jedi Knights, hmm, can't remember how that all ended, so in my mind this story fits perfectly...All belongs to George Lucas and whoever wrote the YJKs
1. Swoops

**Swoops**

Jaina Solo pocketed her commlink and declared, "That was Captain Corel and he says if we're not there in fifteen standard minuets, he is leaving without us! We are already two hours late!"

Zekk agitatedly pushed back his hair, as black as space, and told her, "We promised Master Skywalker. But I am worried we just won't find it in time."

Jaina commiserated, "I know, we can't fail the first mission Uncle Luke sent us on."

Jacen sat down wearily beside them. "But think of it this way. Which is worse, returning to Yavin Four without the Holocron, or having to find another transport?" His twin was quick to argue the importance of safety and not letting _anyone_ know of the Holocron, which meant Captain Corel. He knew Jaina was right. Looking over to Lowbacca and Tenel Ka still searching furiously, he reflected on how they were both so determined, if not downright stubborn.

They were about to go back and rejoin the rest of their group when Lowwbacca suddenly roared, his Wookiee voice echoing off the wall in triumph. Jaina ran to him, "Lowie! You found it!" He proudly handed her a small, transparent crystal. She deftly secured it in a special pouch, hidden beneath her brown Jedi robes.

Jacen, almost yelling in urgency, tugged on his sister's arm, "We have to go now!" They all ran for the exit, then the motor pool. There were only four swoop but five young Jedi. Jaina, with brown hair and eyes to match her brother's, claimed one and sped off after Lowbacca, followed by Zekk. Jacen motioned for the warrior princess to come ride double with him. With the grace of a dancer, Tenel Ka swung onto the small seat behind him. Swoops were compact and all speed. She hooked her arm around his waist and prodded her friend with the Force.

Then the two were soaring through the dizzying air-lanes of Imperial City, on Coruscant. She looked down between the monstrously huge sky-scrappers that, in essence, _were_ the New Republic's capital world and couldn't see a bottom, just rows of light of air-cars fading into black or thick smog.

The young Solo realized that he was quickly falling behind his companions and poured on more speed. The lithe craft streaked ahead, weaving in and out of traffic and the vast abyss' that were allies.

They were quickly approaching Corel's set time and so pushed the swoops as fast as they could go, and faster, disregarding all traffic policies. The five buzzed a large skiff. On its deck stood prisoner to a contingent of commandos and ex-Imperial warlord who shook his cuffed fists at them and shouted, "Rebel Scum!"

Lowbacca, now behind Zekk who was amore experienced pilot, shook his own huge, hairy back and roared something about damn slave-masters and the man's own personal ancestry.

The swoops swerved right and left, up and down, always faster. There were sky-scrappers, tunnels, other air-cars, bridges, and pedestrians to avoid. And, in Zekk's case, a deranged mynock.

Jacen had long crossed the line between sanity and pure reckless abandon. But the gut-wrenching swoops and roaring wind on all sides didn't faze him at all, which was really no surprise, having grown up with Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon as his only examples of how a good, law-abiding citizen should fly. Tenel Ka, on the other hand, reacted differently. The girl who rarely expressed any emotions held on to Jacen as tightly as she possibly could, gripped the swoop's sides with her knees and, her long, elaborately braided red-gold hair streaming behind her, had but one thought.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" At the climax of the race against time, she forgot all those Jedi calming techniques and started cursing in Hapan.

And then they were there. Corel's bulky freighter sat, her massive engines already glowing, on the landing platform. The swoops skid into vaguely marked parking spots. All dismounted and Jaina ran off to get aboard, being the one actually carrying the precious artifact of the Old Republic.

Tenel Ka looked up and saw the others looking at her expectantly then realized that she should let go her death hold on Jacen. She dismounted, almost-blushing.

Jacen looked at her awkwardly. Zekk glanced at him questioningly. He shrugged. Watching them, Tenel Ka stated, "I don't like swoops." The two boys just exchanged glances again. They were unsure if this was funny or creepy, as was often the situation with Tenel Ka.

Once aboard, they hastily strapped in after the Captain had again berated them for being late. Jacen laughed to himself as he remembered first meeting the hulking man back on Yavin Four.

' "Yeah, I'm from Corelia." He had told them then went on, obviously embarrassed but resigned. 'I was named after the Sun."

Jaina, wearing her best Sabacc face had replied, "My little brother was named after Darth Vader."

Taken aback, he just kind of stared at her. "Oh." '

The passenger freighter lifted off and rose like a huge bird through the atmosphere, pausing only for the planetary shields. Soon they were in clear space. The stars stretched in to streaks then the mottled blur of hyperspace as Captain Corel brought her in to the first of a string of jumps to Yavin's jungle moon. Each young Jedi Knight was proud of their first important mission's success and couldn't wait to see Master Luke Skywalker's approval.

THE END


	2. Lessons From the Ancients

Disclaimer: As always, all belongs to George Lucas and the authors...

Lessons From the Ancients

The brilliant sun rising above the forested horizon of Yavin IV chased away the night's rain with a glittering rainbow. Jacen Solo blinked awake then suddenly realized he was late. They had just gotten back last night from a mission and his Uncle Luke had let them get some rest before meeting with him and the rest of the Council. Jacen yawned. He hated changing time zones. As he was hurriedly getting dressed he noticed his friend, Zekk, was still asleep. The two shared a bunk-bed in the small room and Zekk had claimed the top.

Jacen told him, "Zekk! Wake up! We're late! Up! Now!" But to no avail. The dark-haired Jedi just moaned and rolled over. Jacen knew he was exhausted from the mission; none of them had gotten much sleep, least of all Zekk.

He finished dressing and gave a final, "Zekk!!!" before resorting to drastic measures. He grabbed two handfuls of the sheets and light blankets and gave a heave. They came down, along with Zekk who hit the stone floor with a large thud. He was finally awake, though now dazed from the impact.

"AHH!!!" A little delayed, he knew, but it was early. And the floor was very hard. He changed then staggered out after Jacen.

They were the last to arrive in the Grand Audience Chamber at the top of the Massasii pyramid. Jaina, Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Luke Skywalker, Tionne, and Kam were already seated in a circle around something set in the middle. Jacen sat next to his twin, who jabbed him in the ribs for being late. On his other side sat Zekk, who rubbed the back of his head distractedly. They saw that the object of their attention was the small crystal the group had gone to Coruscant for. A Holocron of the Old Republic's Jedi Order, holding countless, invaluable secrets of the nature of the Force.

With a good-natured smile Luke Skywalker greeted everyone, his blonde hair like the sand of his homeworld, Tatooine, in the sunlight. "I congratulate you all on the success of your first mission. You know, it is true that together, as a team, you are stronger than the individual. I could name more than a few Knights who, over the years, have failed to locate -and obtain- this Holocron."

Each young Jedi all but beamed at this high praise. Jacen looked at Tenel Ka. In her silver-gray eyes he could tell that she was smiling, too, even if nobody else could tell.

"I thought you all should be present as the Holocron is first opened, but first if you could tell all about your adventures." Luke continued. He had already heard most of it last night, but wanted his fellow Masters to hear it as well.

Tionne's eyes glittered. She just loved stories. After all, she was the Academy's historian. Jaina pushed back a strand of brown hair and plunged into the story. Her and her brother's young faces combined their father, Han Solo's rouge readiness and their mother, Princess Leia's royal beauty. When she came to the part when they had ridden swoops at break-neck speeds through Imperial City's air-lanes she, being a pilot, demonstrated with her hands and 'whoosh!' sounds which only maybe Zekk and Luke appreciated. Zekk broke in and started to tell about how Tenel Ka, warrior princess, 'didn't like swoops.' Embarrassed, she cut him off a little angrily and told about the freighter they rode back to the jungle moon and its crazy captain. When the story was finished it was finally time to see what their precious Holocron had to tell them.

Kam reached over and moved a little section of the round many-faceted crystal and it activated. Floating above it a staticy holo appeared. It 'solidified' into the form of a tall, heavily tattooed man in old-fashioned Jedi robes. He had yellow eyes and a thick, almost saurian tail curled around his shiny black boots. The static dispersed a little as he bowed then began to speak.

The Jedi man's confident, deep and powerful voice resonated in the round antechamber. They listened to his words accented by distinct but unfamiliar undertones, words that were even more unfamiliar. This alien language sounded sometimes almost like a chant and sometimes dark and full of dread. But the truths were all but lost on the Jedi gathered around the lightly flickering holo.

Jacen saw the brief touch of disappointment on this uncle's face but it was soon replaced with renewed determination. Kam dialed the volume down.

Glancing at the others, who were just kinda staring at it, Zekk declared, "Holocron Lesson Number One. Not all Old Republic Jedi spoke Basic."

Lowbacca rumbled in agreement.

'Zekk seems to have picked up a sense of humor. Maybe from spending so much time with Jacen...' Luke thought to himself. Then he remembered what his sister had said over the holo-link that morning. The Jedi Master turned his light blue eyes to his niece. He was so proud of her, always doing all she could to be the best Jedi, pilot, and friend. "Jaina," he asked her, "Do you think your mother's protocol droid would be able to translate for us? She and Han are coming out in a few days on the Falcon. Maybe she'll bring Threepio or one of her other droids form work in imperial City."

"Ohm Threepio can do it! How many days?" Jaina assured him, excited to see her parents again. Sometimes it was hard to be away at school and she and Jacen could get lonely for the comfort of having their whole family together.

"I'm not sure. She was a little vague..."

And so a week passed and the group rested, trained, marveled at the foreign Jedi man of the Holocron, and wondered when Leia and Han Solo would arrive.


	3. You're My Only Hope

You're My Only Hope

It was near evening and Luke Skywalker sat on the small balcony off his room in the Massassi pyramid temple and watched the rain fall. It was pouring and the sky was dark another rainforest thunderstorm. He always marveled at the rain, how so much of it just fell out of the sky weather the moon wanted it or not. It was so different from his homeworld the desert planet of Tatooine. And he knew personally just _how_ different, having grown up the child of a moisture farmer.

He leaned back against the stone wall, under a small over-hang and stared into the rolling gray sky. Luke chose to wear spacer's boots, good for keeping your feet dry in the humid jungle climate, while others wore open-toed sandals to stay cool, but he didn't mind the heat. It had the life of the rainforest in it, not like the dead heat of Tatooine's endless sand dunes. In addition to the spacer's boots this day he wore black fatigues and a tan T-shirt instead of the traditional Jedi robes.

For an instant among the gray clouds he thought he saw a flash of silver. Focusing his senses, he saw the distinctive form of a modified Corellian freighter, the _Millennium Falcon_. Luke stretched out with the Force and through his special twin-bond called to Leia. She was indeed aboard the _Falcon_, along with Han, and sent him a Force-hug. Luke smiled at the warm presence of his sister, then paused and wondered at what might be another presence, maybe even a Jedi. But it felt somehow distracted, wary. It still felt as if he really should know who...

The Millennium Falcon landed perfectly on the now rain-battered field beside the temple often used for landings. As it was, Luke was the only one to run out and meet the already extending landing ramp. Almost immediately Leia came down. And after greeting her brother with a grin and a hug, she told him, "Han and Chewie are running the cool-down. That gets longer and longer as the ship gets older, but don't tell Han I said that!"

"I won't," he replied, laughing.

"Luke, we have another passenger..."

"Who is it?"

"You'll see...Wow, I always forget about the rain!"

"Why don't you tell me who it is?"

"Why don't you tell me, Jedi Master?"

He looked at her oddly; Leia even as a politician rarely evaded answering questions, but told her anyway. "No, it's almost as if he is hiding something, Leia, though maybe not from me. And it's clouding my perception."

"...yeah."

He almost asked her what she meant by that, but then Chewbacca emerged from the ship. Behind the chestnut Wookiee came an emerald-eyed woman. She let her long red-gold hair hang loose for once and next to her smuggler's blaster was clipped a lightsaber. She ran the last few steps and threw her arms around Luke's neck and hugged him fiercely.

"Mara!" he exclaimed and held her tight. After a moment he asked in a softer tone, "Mara, what's wrong?"

"Hey! Maybe I'm happy to see you! Why do you think something's wrong?" she retaliated but still did not pull away.

"Because you've only hugged me maybe four times in the ten years I've known you." Luke continued, " –And you've never thrown yourself into my arms." he finished. '...not that I mind...'

"Ah! I heard that, Skywalker! Besides, I'm a smuggler! I can't just go around hugging people."

He knew she would tell him whatever it was in her own time so was more than a little worried when Mara sighed and said quietly against his ear, "I'm in some _real_ trouble this time...and I need you. You help me with this and I promise you afterwards I will come back and complete my Jedi training. I'm in a very bad situation and, Luke, you seem like my only hope right now." only then did she pull away and he could look into her beautiful eyes, dead serious. Luke nodded and whispered, "I'm always here for you..." 'Thanks'

Then they suddenly realized they were soaking wet and, with a foreboding roar of thunder, ran together into the temple where the others waited. Kam was saying, "Here, I'll find you some rooms and you can dry off and rest after your trip. Dinner will be in a few hours in the mess hall...uh...that way." With a grin, Han Solo patted his brother-in-law's shoulder and asked for some help bringing in something from the Falcon. He had decided to get presents for his children, apparently souvenirs from somewhere Luke had never heard of.

LATER

Luke knocked on the old-fashioned door again and this time was rewarded with a familiar voice shouting, "Come in!" And he did to find Mara sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, working on a small cylindrical...thing.

"Good morning! I brought you some food. Breakfast was an hour ago."

She looked up, "Oh, sorry," as he sat down across from her. The cylinder was actually the call-device for her ship, the _Star's Shadow_. Or rather, for its slave-system. These days it was rare to see slaved ships and most were considered obsolete, ancient relics. But some still managed to survive on the black market. Perhaps one of the reasons Mara used on was that the man who had first trained her had been the last legacy of the pre-Clone Wars era.

Luke saw that the little red light was glowing. His friend had called the_ Shadow _to Yavin IV. Anxious to know what was really going on he asked, 'When will she get here?"

"In a week."

"That long? Here is she coming from?"

"I'll just tell it all at once..."

Even through explaining her current predicament, they were both glad for the chance to catch up on eachother's most recent adventures with all the appropriate sympathetic "Oh!" s, teasing, and appreciative "Wow!" s. Luke remembered their amazing adventure on that backwater planet Nirauan with the Imperial Chiss, the clone of Trawn, the droidekas, and that lake. Yeah, he remembered that cold, rushing lake very vividly. But not quite as vividly as he remembered the kiss they had shared, standing in a shallow pool deep in the Qom Jha caverns. All through those few weeks they had grown so much closer, throwing their old boundaries of conflict and resentment to the Force. Back in Core space, he had kissed her again, letting her tender lips linger in his dreams. Then she had whispered good-bye before leaving on an important mission for Karrde. That had been almost a year ago and now he found out the general details of that mission though some 'sensitive' parts were, of course, emitted. After all, Karrde was the head of a smuggler information network. Meanwhile Luke had let Leia convince him to do a research project with her for the on-going reconstruction effort of post-Daala Wars Coruscant, mainly its second trade center city. Even after so many years they were still healing the cityscape.

"...so the Wild Karrde is still stranded on Tatooine. And I make it to Coruscant and find out from an old...friend that a Barabel warlord deep in the Core has placed a bounty on my head! And the one he hired–"

"Wait a minuet!" Luke interrupted, alarmed, 'What did you do to earn a price on your head?!"

"I don't think it's something I did. I think it's something I _know_..."

"Oh. What is it you know? You don't sound so sure."

"I'm not. But other than that small problem, I have a brilliant plan. First, my ship will get here from its hiding place in orbit of Adumar. Then we will go and rescue Karrde and his crew from Tatooine. Then, with Karrde, we will surely be able to solve this Barabel warlord situation."

"...And why do you need me?"

"Well, I thought of the good old Jedi Knight single-handedly takes on a palace of gangsters, assassins, etc plan. But then I got sober."

Luke blushed and mock-shoved her away form him. 'That's not funny, Mara!"

"Yes it is!" she laughed, but didn't push it any farther. He was cute when he blushed. But she knew there was a difference between innocent banter and being mean. Besides, she knew all to well that he had indeed succeeded in rescuing Han, Leia, Chewie, and Lando from Jabba the Hutt. Or rather, from the all-powerful Sarlacc. "No, but really, you have to admit that we are a pretty good team."

In the back of her mind she decided that he was even cuter when he smiled and blushed at the same time.


	4. Long Live Sal, Crystal Snake of the Acad...

Long Live Sal, Crystal Snake of the Academy

After talking with Leia, Luke Skywalker declared that the next week at the Academy would be a short vacation. This was partly so Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin could spend some well-earned time with their parents. In recent months all the students had trained very hard and made him proud of their determination. But they were getting restless and he knew they all loved it when he 'spontaneously' declared a vacation day or even a week. Also, Luke knew that at the end of the week, when the _Jade Shadow_ arrived, he would be leaving on another adventure with Mara. After they left, the young Jedi would resume their lessons.

And so it was that Jaina, completely bored out of her mind and having lost track of her parents and younger brother, tried to find some trouble. She sat in her twin's room, cross-legged on his bed.

"Hey, Jacen, wanna spar? I know I can beat you this time!"

"Maybe later, Jaina...I'm feeding my pets. I apparently didn't leave enough while we went to Coruscant. Look how big Sal has gotten!"

She looked at his pet crystal snake, "What kind of a name is Sal for a snake of all things!" she laughed, though not at Jacen's choice of names, "Do you remember that time back on Coruscant when Mom was having some Senators over for dinner and we let Sal out? That one fluffy Bothan jumped and screeched so loud! It was hilarious!"

'Yeah, I remember. We haven't played any pranks in years."

"Let's do it again, just for old time's sake!"

"Jaina...I don't know if that's such a great idea."

"Oh, come on! Just this once! I'm so bored! Can't we just have a little fun!"

"Alright...but we better make it good. This time we will plan an escape route _beforehand_."

"Yes! Definitely!

That was always the only fault in our plans..."

As the two conspired, brown eyes glittering with playful excitement, Sal curled around a little stick in this cage and thought dejectedly to himself, 'I have a bad feeling about this...'

Her footsteps echoed lightly off the stone hallways as Mara Jade headed back to her temporary quarters. She had been sparring with Skywalker, who had seemingly easily won their lightsaber match. Even though he was now nearly invincible with his lightsaber and mastery of the Force, she was usually able to meet him in a practice match. Today, though, Mara had been a little distracted, her stress marring a complete surrender to the Force guiding her movements and thoughts. And when Luke had observed this she had challenged him to a rematch the next day. She angrily kicked in the old-fashioned door and walked into her room. 'More like a _crypt_.'

Mara sighed. 'Maybe I'm just embarrassed for acting so melodramatic yesterday. 'You're my only hope.' I can't believe I said that.' She dropped her gunbelt onto the little table. 'All those holovids must be getting to me. But it's not my fault. There's only so much you can do on long hyperspace jumps. Besides, Chewie cheats at dejarik better than I do.'

Still rationalizing her love of holovids, she bent to pick up the disposable plate, silverware, and cup; all that was left of the breakfast Skywalker had brought her that morning.

Something shimmery flashed in the corner of her eye and she jerked her head around but it was gone. Then along her foot just for a second, she felt something dry and smooth brush by. In one swift movement Mara had snatched back her gunbelt. The blaster caught a little on its holster but made it out in time to shoot a red bolt into the Shimmery. It writhed and spewed blood and lost some of its almost crystal-like translucent shimmer. Mara could see that it was a jungle snake of some sort.

There were footsteps then her primitive door was shoved open. Han Solo had heard the blaster shot and come running. His words paused in his open mouth as he recognized the charred remains of Sal, his son's pet crystal snake. Then he saw Mara Jade standing there with a still-smoking blaster. With the memory of shrieking Senators trying not to touch the floor, giggling children, and a dawning realization, Han burst out laughing.

Confused, Mara demanded to know what was so funny but couldn't make much sense out of his hysterics. 'Oh well...That man's always had a distorted sense of humor...'

She just gave the Correlian a look that clearly said she doubted his sanity and headed back out into the hallways of the labyrinthine one-time Rebel base. She easily made it to the Mess where she took her usual place next to Skywalker, having already forgotten her earlier issues with him. Between almost starting another food fight and explaining to Skywalker the _real_ reason why blue milk is blue, a common initiation inside joke among Karrde's organization, Mara watched the next table over where the Solo teens and their friends sat. She noticed that Jacen Solo, who sat next to Tenel Ka, was giving his sister the silent treatment. Jaina, on the other hand, seemed rather reflective. The young Jedi thought to herself about their 'adventure' that morning and remembered _why_ they hadn't played any pranks since they were little children.


End file.
